Pollo Relleno Mendocino (Argentinian-style Stuffed Chicken)

I took the plunge and de-boned my first chicken. It actually wasn’t as bad as I had dreaded, but it does take some patience (Jacques Pépin says you should be able to do it in ‘about a minute’ but he’s just pulling our collective leg). For the stuffing, I followed a recipe in Gran Cocina Latina from an Argentinian winemaker. Apparently the Argentinians love that retro flavor, so what we have here is a giant chicken cordon bleu. I screwed up by burning the skin – I had my oven set to a little hotter than the recipe calls for, and I didn’t keep an eye on it during cooking. The obvious solution is to keep the oven at 400 (what the recipe calls for) and peek in on the bird once or twice and rotate the tray or cover with foil if needed.

De-boning the chicken:

(1) 6 lb. Chicken

I’m not even going to try and explain this in words. I followed Jacques Pépin’s method, and you should to. Here’s a handy-dandy youtube video how-to.

Brine:

1 onion, sliced

4 cloves of garlic, papery sleeve removed, but left whole

15 oz. water

Bay leaf

1 lemon

1 sprig rosemary

Fresh sage leaves

3 tbsp kosher salt

Black pepper

1 tbsp sugar

15 oz. ice

Sautee the onion and garlic in oil over medium/medium-low heat until the onion softens, 5 minutes or so. Add the water, bay leaf, rosemary, sage, salt and sugar. Stir to help incorporate the salt and sugar. Squeeze the lemon juice into the brine, then add the leftover lemon pieces. Bring to a boil, remove from heat.

Weigh out 15 oz. of ice in a large bowl, then pour in the brining liquid. Stir and allow ice to melt. Make sure the brine is room temperature (or cooler).

Pour brine into 1 gallon Ziploc bag and add deboned chicken. Allow to brine for 8 to 12 hours.

Stuffing:

1 lb. ham, sliced thin

3/8 lb. Gouda cheese, sliced thin

3/8 lb. Edam cheese, sliced thin

1 jar of roasted red peppers (or roast 2 red bell peppers yourself)

Lay out the bird on an appropriate surface and layer on the stuffing ingredients. Make little roll-ups of ham, cheese and peppers and stuff them in the leg holes to help keep their shape. Close him up when he’s all stuffed, and follow Pepin’s instructions on how to truss the beast.

Rub:

¼ cup Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon ground coriander

2 cloves garlic, chopped

Lemon juice to taste

Add all ingredients to a food processor and blitz until smooth. Rub all over the skin of the chicken.

Preheat your oven to 400°F. Place the bird in a roasting tray (I placed mine on a trivet of vegetables [carrot, onion, celery, rosemary]; this is great for making pan-sauce afterwards) and roast for 1.5 hours, or until the breasts reach 165°F. Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

Steak Asturias

A Spanish take on the ‘ol steak with blue cheese. Asturias is located in Northern Spain, and one of their famous dishes is ‘carne gobernada’, which is beef in white wine sauce. Typically this dish is made with tougher cuts of beef such as chuck roast, but we’re gonna ball out today and use steaks. Recipe from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/beef-tenderloin-asturias/.

Recipe:

3 New York Strip Steaks (approx. 1” thick)

1 small onion, diced

1 tablespoon paprika

¼ cup dry white wine (I used a Txakolina)

½ cup chicken stock

4 ounces Spanish blue cheese such as Valdeon, plus extra for garnish

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Take your steaks out of the fridge an hour before you’re ready to cook and season liberally with salt (like, really liberally). Allow to sit at room temp for an hour. Wash off any remaining salt, and pat dry with paper towels.

While the steaks are doing their thing, why not have a snack? Since this is Spanish week, I had some valdeon with honey, Spanish chorizo, Ossau-Iraty from the Spanish Basque Country, and some bread and extra virgin olive oil.

The Valdeon we're using for the sauce. Buying extra was a very good idea.

The cheese comes wrapped in Sycamore leaves.

Snacks fit for a king. Spanish chorizo, Ossau-Iraty, Valdeon, honey, a baguette and extra-virgin olive oil.

 

 

Since I'm making digressions left and right, here's the wine I used in the sauce. It's from the Spanish Basque Country, and has grassy notes with flavors of pears and lemon zest.

 

Ok, back to cooking dinner. Heat a 12” cast-iron skillet over high. Rub the steaks with canola oil, and sear each side over high for 2 minutes per side. Place the skillet in the oven, and cook for about 4 additional minutes, until the steaks reach an internal temp between 125 and 130F. Allow to rest for at least 5 minutes before cutting into them.

Meanwhile, over medium heat cook the onions in a little olive oil until translucent. Add the paprika and cook for an additional minute. Add in the wine, turn the heat to medium-high, and cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Add the stock and cook for 2 more minutes. Crumble the blue cheese and add to the sauce, stirring until just melted. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve the sauce over the steaks and garnish with parsley and blue cheese crumbles. I served the steak along with roasted potatoes and roasted green beans.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

This week’s theme is ‘reinventing the classics,’ so I thought I’d update an old school chicken dish I use to eat as a kid. Chicken Cordon Bleu is one of the few things my mom bought pre-packaged, and who can blame her? Stuffing and breading chicken breasts is kind of a pain in my opinion, so I decided to jettison that whole process. I guess you could call my recipe ‘deconstructed’ chicken cordon bleu. I also wanted to use some better ingredients than those old store-brought cordon bleus (which always had a tiny piece of ham in the middle, swiss cheese, breading that got soggy on the bottom), so I grabbed some jamon Serrano, gruyere, and emmentaler cheese from DiBruno Brothers.

Brine:

½ onion, sliced

1 clove garlic, peeled

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped

10 oz. water

3 sprigs thyme

1 sprig rosemary

½ lemon

2 bay leaves

10 oz. ice cubes

1 oz. salt

Black pepper

2 teaspoons sugar

In a 12” pan over medium heat, add a little olive oil and sautee the onion, garlic, celery and carrot for about 5 minutes, until softened and the onion slices start to get translucent. Add the 10 oz. water, along with the thyme, rosemary, lemon (squeezing the juice into the brine and removing any seeds), bay leaves, salt, black pepper and sugar. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and add ice cubes.

Transfer brine to large Ziploc bag. Make sure the mixture is cool, and add chicken breasts. Place in a bowl and refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours.

For the chicken:

2 large breasts, brined

4 slices jamon Serrano

Preheat your oven to 425°F. Remove the breasts from the brine and pat dry. Slice in half vertically, and wrap a slice of ham around each half. Place on a baking sheet, and bake for about 25 minutes, until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F.

For the Sauce:

~5 large crimini mushrooms, sliced

2 tbsp butter (plus extra for the mushrooms)

2 tbsp flour

1.5 cups whole milk

½ cup emmentelar cheese

¼ cup gruyere cheese

Salt

Pepper

Nutmeg (about 1/8 to ¼ teaspoon)

In a 10” pan, melt some butter and sauté the sliced mushrooms for about 5 to 7 minutes, lightly seasoning with salt. Remove from the pan and reserve. Add 2 tbsp of butter, and once melted add the 2 tbsp flour. Whisk to form a roux. Meanwhile, have the milk heating on another burner (or in the microwave). Add warm milk to the roux about ¼ cup at a time, whisking to incorporate. Once all the milk has been incorporated, add the chesses, along with salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste (should only take a small amount of nutmeg – it’s powerful stuff). Add the reserved mushrooms, and bring the sauce to a simmer.

Bread crumbs:

Baguette

3 sprigs thyme (whole)

Olive oil

2 cloves garlic, peeled

In a large pan over medium heat, add a decent squirt of olive oil. Break/cut pieces off the baguette and add to the oil, along with thyme and garlic. Sauté until the bread starts to get crispy, about 5 minutes. Discard thyme and garlic.

Serve the chicken breasts along side the sauce and bread crumbs. Pair with roasted potatoes and blanched asparagus.

Cannoli Cheesecake

This was my first time making an actual cheesecake - I've made cheesecake cupcakes and brownies before, but never the real deal 'if you don't do this right you're going to crack it' cheesecake. I referenced a number of recipes for cannoli/ricotta cheesecake variations, and none of them mentioned using a water bath/bain marie setup. Maybe I'll give that a try the next time around and report my results. Adapted from: http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/cannoli-cheesecake.aspx

Crust:

1/3 cup (1 oz.) sliced almonds

7 oz. vanilla wafers

7 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Filling:

1 16 oz container plus 1 cup (7 ounces, for a total of 23 oz.) ricotta

10 oz cream cheese, room temperature

2 tbsp flour

Pinch salt

1 ¼ cup sugar (~9 oz.)

2 tbsp orange zest

1 tbsp vanilla extract

½ cup mini chocolate chips (plus more for garnish)

4 large eggs, at room temperature

For the crust:

Preheat oven to 350°F, and position the oven racks so your cheesecake will cook in the middle of the oven. Add almonds and wafers to a food processor, and pulse several times to crush into small pieces. The original recipe calls for adding 3 tbsp granulated sugar here- The “Nilla” brand wafers I used had plenty of sugar in them already, so I chose to omit any additional sugar. Add the melted butter to the crumb mixture, and pulse once or twice to incorporate.

Prepare a 9” springform pan by rubbing butter all along the inside and tossing flour on top of the butter layer. Transfer the crust mixture to the pan, pressing down and up the sides. Place a layer of plastic wrap overtop the crust while you do this to make life easier. Bake for 9 to 12 minutes. Remove and let cool on a rack.

For the filling:

In the bowl of a stand mixture fitted with the paddle attachment, add the ricotta, cream cheese, flour and salt. Beat on medium until very smooth and the cheese is devoid of lumps, about 5 minutes. Stop once or twice to scrape down the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the sugar, zest, and vanilla, and continue to beat on medium for another minute until completely blended and smooth.

Add the chocolate chips and mix on low until the chips are incorporated. Add the eggs one at a time, with the mixer on low, until each is just incorporated. Don’t overmix.

Pour the mixture on top of the crust, and place the springform pan on a baking sheet (you can also place tinfoil over the bottom of the pan, if you’d like). Bake for 55 to 65 minutes. The cheesecake should be puffy around the edges, and jiggle like jello when you tap the side of the pan. Remove and set on a rack, allowing to cool completely. Transfer to the fridge, and chill it overnight. Garnish with mini chocolate chips to serve.

Yep, I cracked it

Olive Oil and Ricotta Cake with Blueberry Marsala Coulis

I remember the first time I had olive oil cake, at the White Dog Café in Philly (back when it was owned by Judy Wicks), and thinking that it sounded absolutely awful, and that there was no possible way that olive oil could be in a dessert. The moment I bit into my piece, I immediately took back my previous sentiment. It was light, fluffy, and avoided being cloyingly sweet – a great dessert for people who aren’t big on desserts. I’ve always meant to make an olive oil cake myself, but had never gotten around to it. Recently, however, I picked up the new Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, and saw this recipe for olive oil and ricotta cake and decided to give it a go.  The recipe for the cake itself is straight out of the book, the sauce is my own adaptation.

Olive Oil and Ricotta Cake:

1 Cup Ricotta/Famers Cheese (recipe follows)

1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 cup sugar

½ teaspoon lemon zest

2 large eggs

1.5 cups all-purpose flour

1.5 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

Butter and Flour for the pan

Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Blueberry Coulis:

1 heaped cup of blueberries

3 TBSP Sweet Marsala

1 TBSP Lemon Juice

2 TBSP Sugar

¼ cup water

Pinch of salt

Ricotta/Farmers Cheese

½ Gallon Milk (don’t use ultra-pasteurized – it won’t curdle correctly)

1 cup heavy cream

½ teaspoon salt

3 TBSP white vinegar

Add the milk, cream, and salt to a large pot, and bring up to a near boil (200°F if you want to be exact about it) over medium-high heat. Add in the vinegar while stirring, until the liquid begins to curdle. Drop the heat to low and simmer for two additional minutes, stirring. Strain the mixture into a strainer lined with cheese cloth. Bundle up the cheese cloth and tie some twine around the cloth. Hang the cheese above your sink, or in the refrigerator suspended over a bowl for one hour. Don’t squeeze the cheese, just let gravity do its thing. The cheese can then be refrigerated for up to two days. Yields 2 cups.

Oh you know, just hanging out

For the Cake:

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Add ricotta, olive oil, sugar, and lemon zest into a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking to combine. Sift the flour in top of the mixture, and add the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Bring the mixture together with a spoon until just combined. Butter and flour a 9” springform pan (I used a 9.5” pie dish) and transfer the mixture into the pan. Bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

For the coulis:

Add everything into a small sauce pan, and bring to a simmer. Let simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and use an immersion blender to liquefy, being careful not to splatter blueberry juice everywhere. Simmer for about 5 more minutes, until the liquid is reduced to the consistency you would like.

Awwwww sheeeeeit, it's Pacman

Arepas de Domino

This week's 52 Weeks of Cooking challenge  was to use 5 ingredients or less in a dish. I decided to try my hand at arepas, the biscuit-y corn cakes popular in Venezuela and Colombia. The inspiration comes from a food truck, Philly Delicias, which opened up about a block from my office back in January. My arepas didn't turn out as good as theirs, but what can you expect from a first try?

Ingredients (makes 6 arepas):

2 cups, masarepa (aka masa de arepa - PAN and Goya are two popular brands, I found both white and yellow corn varieties in my grocery store's ethnic aisle)
2.5 cups warm water
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Black beans, prepared (1 15 oz. can, or equivalent)
Bacon fat
Cotija cheese

Start by preheating your oven to 400F. In a large bowl, combine the masarepa and salt, mix, and then pour in the warm water. Mix the ingredients together with your hands, until a mass of dough is formed. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 5 minutes. Shape the dough into 6 discs, roughly hamburger sized. Heat a large skillet over medium for a few minutes, then add a layer of canola oil and saute the arepas until they start to get some color, about 5 minutes a side (you may need to do this in two batches - don't crowd the arepas in the pan). Transfer the arepas to a baking sheet (use a paper towel to sop up excess oil), and place in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the arepas make a hollow sound when you tap on them.

While the arepas are baking, heat a frying pan over medium, add a spoonful (or you know, more) bacon fat, and saute the beans for about 5 minutes. Once the arepas are cooked through, split them down the center, fill with beans and top with cheese.

Chessy Caprese Bread

Here’s another one for the “ehh, it turned out good, but it needs some tweaking” file. This could probably be split into two loaves. Inspired and adapted from http://smittenkitchen.com/2012/02/cheddar-beer-and-mustard-pull-apart-bread/

Ingredients:

Dough:

15 oz all purpose flour (divided)

4 oz (1 stick) butter

9 oz water

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, room temp

Pesto:

2 cups basil leaves

¼ cup pine nuts

1 clove garlic

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Scant ½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Additional ingredients
1 ½ cups mozzarella, shredded

1 tomato, sliced thin

Instructions:

Melt the butter and add the water. Let cool until the mixture is between 110° and 116°F. In a mixer, add 8 ounces of the flour, along with the yeast, sugar, and salt. Mix it around a bit, then pour in the butter/water mixture and mix on low. Add the remaining 7 ounces of flour and mix until incorporated. Add the 2 eggs and mix until incorporated. Switch to the dough hook attachment and knead on low for 3-4 minutes. Transfer the dough to a bowl that’s been sprayed with cooking spray, cover, and let rise until doubled, about an hour.

Meanwhile for the pesto:

Add the chopped garlic and pine nuts to a food processor and whiz a few times.

Add the remaining ingredients and process until it’s the consistency you’re looking for. Season with salt and pepper.

Assembly:

Roll out the dough on a well floured surface into a 12”x20” rectangle.  Use a brush to coat the dough with pesto. Grab a pizza cutter and slice into strips. Stack the strips on top of each other, layering with mozzarella and tomatoes along the way. Once the strips are piled on top of each other, cut into squares and place into a greased bread pan or two (like I said earlier, you might be able to get 2 loaves out of this… I squeezed it all into 1). Cover loosely and let proof for 30 – 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake for 25-35 minutes, until the top starts to brown.